WASHINGTON, Jan 24, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US House Republicans approved a bill on Thursday that would ensure medical care for infants born alive during abortion procedures, in a vote largely labeled a gimmick by Democrats since such laws already exist.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act requires health professionals to provide the "same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence" that would be offered during a normal childbirth.

Practitioners who fall foul of the measure would face fines and up to five years in jail.

Democrats consistently dismiss such bills as redundant because it is already illegal for health workers to kill or neglect a newborn, and say such legislation aims to intimidate reproductive health care workers providing abortions.

The "born alive" legislation passed the House one day after a similar bill failed in the Senate amid a blockade by Democrats.

"The goal of this bill is to target and intimidate reproductive health care providers and make it harder for women to access vital health care," Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said.

"In fact, it is already law that any child born in America -- regardless of the circumstances surrounding that birth -- is afforded equal protections," he said.

House Republicans are keen to get Democrats on the record as coming out against legislation that purports to combat "infanticide" -- widely defined as the intentional killing of a child under the age of one.

All but two Democrats duly opposed the legislation.

"Tragically, House Democrats opposed the bill, voted for infanticide, and opted to deny medical care to crying newborns on operating tables struggling to live," Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

"Every newborn child deserves to be protected. It truly is that simple."

The vast majority of abortions in the United States are performed before the point of viability -- fewer than one percent take place after 21 weeks -- and live births during abortions are rare, although statistics vary on the frequency.

Progressive activists fear that Donald Trump's second presidential term could herald a new wave of attacks on abortion access as a Republican-controlled Congress enacts sweeping national restrictions or an outright ban.

The Republican president's Supreme Court picks during his first term were pivotal in dismantling decades of legal precedent protecting the national right to abortion.